Connecticut, state, United States: Wars and Industrial Expansion

Connecticut, which had placed limitations on slavery in 1784 and abolished it in 1848, supported the Union during the Civil War with nearly 60,000 troops. During and after the war, industry expanded greatly. Immigration provided a cheap labor supply as English, Scottish, and many Irish immigrants, who had arrived in large numbers even before the war, were followed by French Canadians and, in the late 19th and early 20th cent., by Italians, Poles, and others.

During World Wars I and II Connecticut prospered, providing munitions and other supplies for the war effort. Between the two wars, however, the Great Depression left many unemployed. Connecticut's industries continued to grow and develop in the years following World War II. In 1954 the world's first nuclear-powered submarine was launched at Groton, and guns, helicopters, and jet engines were among key manufactures of the cold war period.

During the 1970s, as manufacturing began to decline, Connecticut's heavy industry–dependent major cities fell into a state of decay. The growth of financial, insurance, real estate, and service industries, however, helped make Connecticut one of the wealthiest states in the nation; many of these business moved to the state from New York. This wealth has been enjoyed primarily by the state's affluent suburbs, while the central cities have further crumbled, as evidenced by Bridgeport's bankruptcy filing in 1991. The development of Native-American-owned casinos in SE Connecticut during the 1990s supplanted defense industries as the main economic engine in that region.

In 1994, John G. Rowland, the state's first Republican chief executive in 24 years, was elected. He was reelected twice, but resigned in 2004 as he faced impeachment proceedings over suspected corruption. (Rowland pleaded guilty to a federal charge of corruption in Dec. 2004 and spent 10 months in prison and 4 months under house arrest.) Lt. Gov. M. Jodi Rell, also a Republican, succeeded Rowland, and she won election to the post in 2006, serving one full term. Since 2010, Democrats have held the governorship, beginning with Dannel Malloy (2010-2018) and his successor, Ned Lamont (2018- ). Malloy inherited a large budget deficit, and negotiated large concessions from the government's unions and enacted tax increases, both contributing to his initial low approval ratings; however, he was lauded for his quick response to Hurricane Sandy in 2012 which helped the state avoid the large scale damage that neighboring New York and New Jersey suffered. Lamont continued Malloy's liberal policies, and also initially suffered low approval ratings, but these improved as he effectively led the state's efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19.

Sections in this article:

• Introduction
• Wars and Industrial Expansion
• Early Manufacturing
• The New England Confederation
• Dutch and English Exploration and Settlement
• Government, Politics, and Higher Education
• Economy
• Geography
• Facts and Figures
• Bibliography

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